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Tax thresholds frozen in Autumn Statement 2022
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced several measures in this year’s Autumn Statement in an attempt to plug the £55 billion ‘black hole’ in public finances. The statement, delivered to the House of Commons on 17 November, included several tax threshold freezes and cuts in annual allowances. One of the most important changes was the announcement that…
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National Insurance increase reversed
The Government’s reversal of the National Insurance contribution (NICs) increase is now in effect as of 6 November. The majority of working people will begin receiving the 1.25% tax cut in their payslips from November onwards. The rise in NICs was introduced in April as part of the health and social care levy but was…
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HMRC reminds taxpayers to declare SEISS payments
HMRC is reminding taxpayers to declare their self-employed income support scheme (SEISS) payments in their self-assessment return for the 2021/22 tax year. The Government paid SEISS grants to eligible businesses adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, with over 2.9 million people claiming at least one SEISS payment in the 2021/22 tax year. The grants are…
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Bank of England raises base interest rate
The Bank of England (BoE) decided to increase the base interest rate from 2.25% to 3% last month in a bid to curb inflation. The 0.75 percentage point rise is the largest hike since 1989 and the eighth consecutive increase since December 2021. Updated projections from the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) indicated that the…
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Self-assessment tax returns
With the new year just around the corner and tax season fast-approaching, now’s a good time to get a head start on your self-assessment tax return. Self-assessment is a system HMRC uses to collect tax on income that wasn’t taxed at source. People who are self-employed, such as sole traders, have to file a self-assessment…
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Retirement planning – what to think about
With the rising costs of living affecting every aspect of almost everyone’s finances, there’s no time like the present to start considering your retirement plans. Unfortunately, the Government has significantly increased the state pension age over a number of years. The state pension age is currently 66 years old for both men and women, but…
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Hunting for growth: Autumn Statement 2022
Introduction “British families make sacrifices every day to live within their means, and so too must their Government, because the United Kingdom will always pay its way.” – Chancellor Jeremy Hunt As Jeremy Hunt took to the dispatch box just 34 days after taking on the role of Chancellor of the Exchequer, all eyes were…
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MTD for VAT penalties begin from November
HMRC has announced that penalties will be issued to those not completing VAT returns through Making Tax Digital (MTD) from 1 November 2022. Anyone who files a VAT return via a non-electric submission will face penalties of up to £400. These changes will apply to VAT customers for accounting periods on or after 1 April…
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Covid loans scheme hit by over £1bn in suspected fraud
The Government is joining forces with lenders and agencies to tackle the high level of bounce-back scheme fraud cases. A new report shows that £1.1 billion worth of loans provided through the Government’s bounce-back loan scheme (BBLS) have been marked as suspected fraud. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) released a document…
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Bank of England predicts the UK to enter recession this year
The Bank of England (BoE) has predicted that the UK will enter a recession before the end of the year. The prediction, backed up by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), follows consecutive rises in interest rates, with inflation reaching a 40-year high of 10.1% in July. Although the BoE expects the economy to contract…
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Chancellor announces biggest tax cuts in 50 years
The additional tax rate has been scrapped completely by the new Chancellor. Kwasi Kwarteng has announced the biggest bundle of tax cuts since 1972 in his first fiscal statement as Chancellor. Income tax, corporation tax and stamp duty make up the majority of the most significant cuts in a bid to promote growth within the…
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Making business savings during a recession
How to make savings during the cost-of-living crisis. Nobody wants one, but a recession in the UK is looming, with the Bank of England (BoE) and British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) predicting the UK will enter one by the end of 2022. The monetary policy committee of the BoE wrote: “The latest rise in gas…
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HMRC updates MTD guidance
MTD non-compliance penalties also published. After much anticipation from accountancy bodies and businesses, HMRC has finally updated its guidance on Making Tax Digital (MTD), filling in several blanks. HMRC updated some of its informational pages on GOV.UK in late August, including fresh information on how to meet the requirements for MTD for income tax self-assessment…
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Straight out the gate: Kwarteng’s not-so-mini Budget
Introduction Last week’s fiscal statement, the ‘mini-Budget’ that the Government insisted wasn’t, in fact, a Budget at all, came at 9:30am on Friday 23 September and brought with it some significant, unexpected and (in some cases) controversial measures. Amid preceding uncertainty about if, when, or whether there’d even be a fiscal statement this month, recently…
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Bank of England raises interest rates to 1.75
The Bank of England (BoE) has increased interest rates to 1.75%, the first rise of half a per cent in over 20 years. The latest increase is the fifth rise since December 2021, with the BoE arguing that rate rises are needed to tackle soaring inflation. Inflation as measured by the consumer price index (CPI)…
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Capital allowances and the super deduction
Make use of these allowances while they last. When a business incurs costs, such as salary payments or stationary procurement, it can usually fully deduct them as expenses from its taxable profits, reducing the tax due. However, when it buys assets for operational purposes, things are not quite so straightforward. There are HMRC incentives to…
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Capital gains tax rules for divorced couples ease
The Government has announced plans to relax capital gains tax (CGT) rules in divorce settlements, giving spouses and civil partners more time to transfer assets without incurring CGT charges. If the new rules are approved, they will come into effect from 6 April 2023. Newly separated couples are currently given until the end of the…
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Help to grow scheme extends to smallest businesses
The Government’s ‘help to grow: digital’ scheme has now expanded to include businesses with fewer than five employees. Over a million more businesses will now be eligible for the scheme, which has also been expanded to include one-to-one advice and additional software. Launched in January this year, the scheme was established to help small to…
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Energy bill support to be split over six payments
The Government has announced a £400 energy bill grant will be paid to customers over six payments to help households cope with the cost of living crisis. As part of an £11.7 billion energy support package, some 29 million households will receive grants to help pay for their energy bills this winter, starting in October.…
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Employing staff for the first time
An overview of the Government’s seven steps. Hiring an employee for the first time is an exciting moment for any business owner. Suddenly, you’ve got another pair of hands to help out with jobs that used to fall entirely on you – and with that extra support, new opportunities for growth are possible. There’s a…
